Does Viasat Have Off-Peak Hours?

Yes. There are times when network traffic is lower and this may or may not have an effect on you. It will depend on whether you’ve used all of your priority data yet or not.

Because of the limitations inherent in satellite internet, it is quite normal for providers to have some kind of limit on data. For most providers this means you get a set amount of priority data with guaranteed speeds, but if you go over that amount, your speeds will be lowered. With Viasat, rather than throttling your speeds to an insanely low 1-3 Mbps like other providers, your data will simply be prioritized behind other users. This means lower speeds during peak hours and closer to normal speeds during off-peak hours.

Peak hours are usually between 5 p.m. and 2 a.m., when everyone is off work and online. Off-peak hours would be all other times, especially during the early morning hours. Even after using up all of your priority data, you can still get decent connection speeds during these off-peak hours.

Of course the best way to avoid this situation is to stay under your monthly data allowance. While other satellite internet providers try to solve this problem by having special off-peak hours data, a bonus amount of data that you can use during early morning hours, Viasat decided to just give everyone more data overall. Would you rather have 50 GB of any time data plus 50 GB of off-peak hours data, or would you rather just have 300 GB of any time data? The first model is HughesNet, the second model is Viasat. I think the choice is easy.

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